Sunday on writing advice that has been so useful to me:

If you want to work in policy and are already a good writer, practice being a faster writer. Give yourself no more than 24 hrs to write memos & a bit longer for papers.

If you went to a policy-oriented grad school, most people probably emphasized writing quality. This is definitely important, but I do think sometimes standards are much higher for academic pieces and publications than they are for day to day memos in the workplace.

Many of my classmates, who were already good writers, focused solely on quality, at the expense of speed. That misses the point. When you work in government, you’ll need to be able to think and write quickly. Memos will have to be clear and concise, but not perfect.

Instead, I focused on speed - again, because I was already a very good writer. My max was around 13k words in one day (only once, don’t recommend). In general, after practicing this for 2 years, I can now knock out a quality 1-2 page memo in 30-60 mins, depending on the topic.

Being able to do this will make you a better policy staffer and professional. People will appreciate that you’re able to get things done quickly and know not to let perfect be the enemy of good. I wish people gave me this advice earlier on.